Comments for Michael Agnew

Comment on Surly Wants A New Brewery by Tweets that mention Michael Agnew » Surly Wants A New Brewery -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Michael Agnew » Surly Wants A New Brewery -- Topsy.com — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:18:38 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ratebeer and A Perfect Pint, RateBeer Hop Press. RateBeer Hop Press said: Fresh off the Press Surly Wants A New Brewery http://bit.ly/fXNr2m [...]

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by Hair6a11

Hair6a11 — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 03:14:40 +0000

Right. I love drinking beer that I love for the taste. Random brews that are on the mediocre/average side do nothing but make me wish I never purchased them. Ever. And it’s because of that finite time/money concept that makes me look at style lists ever more.

A top 50 list of a particular style is hardly hype, in spite of the fact that you wouldn’t personally rate it in that order. Like that matters.

The point is that because there is so much beer , it’s nice to weed out some of the crap. Of which there are tons on top of the many tons of non crap beer.

I find the lists quite relevant.

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by Sean - Beer Search Party

Sean - Beer Search Party — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:26:27 +0000

I am seconding Brian’s comments. You will occasionally see me with the new “it beer” instead of a reliable old favorite but I try my best to stay balanced and not let any hype color my decisions too much.

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by noblesquirrel

noblesquirrel — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:21:19 +0000

My one quick comment on this is the fact that there are really a few different sides to “tickerdom.” Whale hunters, I agree, are a damning group in that they have ruined certain aspects of the hobby by taking an “at any cost” approach and then inflating based on rarity. But I think there is another camp that really just likes trying as many beers as they can, for the most part regardless of perceived greatness. I, for one, have fallen back and regularly go to tappings at the local brewpubs here in Chicago because I enjoy tasting Chris or Gabe or Pete’s new beer. It’s not about rarity, it’s about supporting a group of people that I passionately agree with in a hobby that I love and enjoy. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to one to try every beer they brew…

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by AMG800

AMG800 — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:57:13 +0000

As a person who does enjoy rating beers on this site (I just passed my 100th beer rating milestone) I still subscribe mostly to your viewpoint. When ever I rate a beer I rate it not necessarily on how it fits the style but on how much I enjoyed it. I rarely look at other user’s ratings, and if I do it is most certainly after I have submitted my own.
I liked your article and wanted to thank you for sharing this point of view.

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by GastroPub

GastroPub — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:45:26 +0000

I’m the decision-maker for certain aspects of a new beer-related iphone app, and I’m anticipating a similar type of skew/irrelevance to our rating system. The app centers around a rate-able beer journal (with a posted average rating), and I expect to see certain local beers (of marginal to decent quality) rated 5-stars by many of my patrons/app users. I’ve even contemplated setting a limit on the number of extreme ratings (5 or 1 star) that can be stored in the database. It’s just the nature of it that not everyone will use the same rating techniques or take it as seriously as others.

My mind relates this as well to some recent mixology competitions in which I’ve competed. I actually won one of them, but the guy who finished last made what I considered the best cocktail, complete with history of the ingredients and a killer presentation (criteria that I value). In discussing it later, he and I came to the conclusion that our judges just aren’t credible enough to make the competition worthwhile. Now, expand the body of judges to include ANYONE who signs up for ratebeer (or BA), and you see how skewed things can get.

In the end, I advocate the “grain of salt” philosophy. There’s some merit to mass-ratings, but they are far from the last word on the matter.

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by Michael Agnew

Michael Agnew — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:30:02 +0000

A personal, on-line, tasting note database is a good way to use the sites.
I admit, I do look at them when I need specific information about a beer that I can’t seem to find elsewhere. Some of those European brewery websites can be damned hard to find with just google searches.

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by Brian Leppla

Brian Leppla — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:52:45 +0000

I totally respect your article, mostly because it reads like the rational side of my brain. But then there’s the irrational part that goes out and buys a beer simply because it IS on that list. But I also learned a long time ago how to use RateBeer–not as some research tool to predict if I would “like” a beer, but as my own online tasting notes journal/label collection. I dont rail against the Top 100 as some faux-authoritarian definitive list…for me theyre basically fun suggestions.

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by Tweets that mention Michael Agnew » I don’t care about the Top 100 -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Michael Agnew » I don’t care about the Top 100 -- Topsy.com — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:10:03 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ratebeer, A Perfect Pint and Jeremy Danner, RateBeer Hop Press. RateBeer Hop Press said: Fresh off the Press I don’t care about the Top 100 http://bit.ly/hiSv1E [...]

Comment on I don’t care about the Top 100 by Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:06:22 +0000

The statement about reading someones review and it ruining the taste of a beer, I found, is true. I mainly use ratebeer.com for it’s description of the beer.

I hate how people who have rated a million beers, continuously trash or snob up the site with their snarky comments.

Just give me the facts!
I love this article!!!

Jeff